


Like Coming Home

by Starofwinter



Category: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Aggressively Happy AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Character Death, F/M, Family, GFY, Happy Ending, I'll handwave whatever I want to handwave to make this happy, Multi, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Weddings, YAY REVELATIONS, but he had it coming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-17 12:43:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 9,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5870080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Had you said the word, I would have left the Jedi Order."</p><p>In another lifetime, a word is all it takes to change the fate of the galaxy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Like Coming Home

“Please stay.” The words are out before Satine can stop them, and as Obi-Wan slowly turns to look back at her, she can’t bring herself to regret them. “You told me once, that if I asked, you would stay. I’m asking.” She can’t let him go again, she _won’t_. She has watched for too long as he lost pieces of himself, and come to her bloody and beaten and cast down by the Order he has served with every fiber of his being for his whole life, that has thrown him away time and again for their own ends. Not this time.

“Satine, you know I can’t just leave.” Obi-Wan had meant the words. He still did, but he couldn’t turn his back on the Order now; they needed a leader. He wants to stay, but Jedi do not _want_. They simply obey. The Force, the Order, they must always _obey_. “I have a responsibility.”

She looks away from him and his heart falls in his chest. There are ways, he knows. He’s counseled other Jedi down those paths, when they knew there was no future for them with the Order. He could walk away with his head held high and his shoulders free of the weight they now carried. “I did promise,” he says softly, and she turns back to him with something that might be hope, “There are things I must do first, but… for you, dearest, I will.” It will mean turning his back on the life he has built, on everything he has become, but for her, he would move the stars. When she wraps her arms around him, it feels like coming home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part one of what will probably become an ongoing series. May the gods have mercy on my soul.


	2. Hey Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan should have expected that Anakin would want to follow him.

It’s a fact that’s been known for years - where Obi-Wan Kenobi goes, so goes Anakin Skywalker. From their first days together, with the tiny blond boy trotting along after his Master, to these last few years of war, fighting side by side, they were never far apart.

So when Obi-Wan meets Anakin in his quarters to confess the promise he made as an impulsive Padawan, and the fact that he is going to follow through on it, he really should have expected this. “Anakin, you’re not coming with me. I forbid it.” He crosses his arms across his chest, shaking his head. This cannot happen. Anakin must remain a Jedi. The Chosen One must stay in the Light. Anakin has that stubborn set to his shoulders that Obi-Wan has learned to both love and hate. He admires his tenacity and the firmness of his beliefs; Obi-Wan himself lost that belief in right and wrong and black and white somewhere in the years of war. They’re all varying shades of gray now, and he wishes desperately that it were not so.

“Obi-Wan, I can’t stay.” 

That brings him up short. “What do you mean?” This is the first he’s heard of it - is this what Anakin has been struggling so much with lately? Obi-Wan frowns and leans forward a bit, resting his elbows on his knees with his hands linked and pressed to his lips. He remembers well the time when Anakin was half the age he is now, when one mission had been all that stood between him and leaving the Order.

“I mean,” Anakin says, and he can feel the tension creeping into his shoulders as he speaks, “I’m not the Jedi I should be. I’m not the Jedi I could be.” The confession is a weight off his shoulders. He told Padme this, once upon a time, but Padme can’t help him with this. Obi-Wan would understand. They’re more alike than he believed when he was much younger. He’d thought of his Master as some immovable, unemotional ideal of a Jedi; now he can see so easily that Obi-Wan cares just as much, if not even more, about others, he just learned how to put them aside. It’s a skill Anakin knows he will never learn. He can’t be a Jedi.

Obi-Wan leans forward, and charged emotions and worries lie heavy between them - in this room, it feels like the whole galaxy is hushed, waiting for the outcome of this one conversation. “You are a better Jedi than you give yourself credit for, Anakin, but I understand.” He’s seen it. He tried to train Anakin to let go of those emotions, or to hide them, but he knows that they are what make Anakin the man he is. The _Jedi_ he is. The Order is deeply flawed, and he can almost feel Qui-Gon’s surprised smugness at the silent admission. Those admissions had been coming quickly of late, and he still wishes his Master was there to discuss and debate them. He has no one, within or without the Order, to talk this through with him. He has held the fate of systems in his hands, but this is what makes him feel wholly inadequate and incredibly small. “If, and that is a very large _if_ , Anakin, you do leave the Order, you must be absolutely certain you are doing it for the right reasons.” Obi-Wan trusts that while his former apprentice is rash, he knows his own mind very well, and his connection to the Force is unparalleled. While his own connection cannot compare, he knows they both feel it all but singing with the _rightness_ of this decision.

 _Obi-Wan trusts him_. Anakin can feel that easily, and it warms him. Obi-Wan isn’t abandoning him. He isn’t telling him _no,_ just _think about it, look before you leap_. It’s a lesson Anakin has learned the hard way. They share a knowing look and Obi-Wan smiles - he already looks younger, Anakin thinks, now that he’s made up his mind and that stubborn sense of personal responsibility that his former Master feels for every being in the galaxy has started to change into something else. He doesn’t doubt that Obi-Wan is still going to try to take on too much responsibility, like he always does, and Anakin can feel his lingering guilt over his decision to leave, but maybe now he has the chance to just be himself, away from the Order’s rules. He’s seen it sometimes on missions, when no one was around to see his little lapses in his strict control over himself. The occasional hug or words of affection, the way he looked at the people he considered friends… it all added up to a much bigger picture of Obi-Wan than he’d initially believed he would ever see. For the first time since the beginning of the war, Anakin found himself looking forward to the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is much longer than chapter one, but Anakin wouldn't shut up about his feelings.


	3. Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breaking the news to Ahsoka could have gone a little easier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After three months of fighting with this chapter and struggling to find Ahsoka's voice, I think I've got it.

Ahsoka feels like the floor has dropped out from beneath her.  Of all the things she expected to hear when her Master took her out for lunch at one of the diners they both like, the news that he and Obi-Wan are both  _ leaving the Order _ wasn’t anywhere near the list.  Shock keeps her silent for a minute.

“I’m coming with you, right?”  She says it with as much confidence as she can manage - they won’t leave her behind.  They can’t… right?   They’re a team.  The best team in the galaxy.  She can’t believe they’d just  _ leave _ her.  

Anakin shifts uncomfortably and glances at Obi-Wan, and she recognizes his look as the one he gets any time he wants to do something the Order would frown upon, and he wants to make sure his Master has his back.  Obi-Wan, on the other hand, looks completely neutral, the way he does whenever he wants to look like he’s staying neutral, but he really means he’s going to stand behind Anakin, just like always.  It makes her feel a little better about all this.  “I can’t make that decision for you.  Ahsoka, if you stay, you could be the best Jedi the Order has ever seen.  Another Master could take over your training,” his voice gets a little tight as he says it, and she doesn’t need to look to know that his hands are clenched under the tabletop, “Master Plo Koon has mentioned that he would be willing to train you, if it-  If anything happened.  Aayla has too.  If you want to leave, that’s okay too, but I don’t want it to be just because I won’t be your Master.  I’ll still be here on Coruscant, and you know Padme and I will always be there for you.  Obi-Wan too.”

“What Anakin means,” Obi-Wan says gently, “Is that you must follow the Force’s path for you, not his path, or even mine.”

She crosses an arm over her chest, her shoulders hunched.  “But what if I don’t know what the Force wants?”  She hasn’t known that since she was sent to Anakin as a Padawan.  It felt  _ right _ , she just knew she was meant to be with him, but lately, it hasn’t felt the same.  The Jedi aren’t the same Order they were when the war started, and the decisions they’re making just cloud the Force more and more.   They’re turning more gray by the day, and it feels horribly wrong.  

“That sounds like-”

“Obi-Wan, don’t say it-”   
  


“Just because  _ you _ hated meditating as a Padawan doesn’t mean you need to pass on your bad habits to your own apprentice.”  The easy banter and Obi-Wan’s mild, offended tone coupled with the wink he shoots at Ahsoka make the tension in her chest ease a little, and she giggles softly.  

Anakin sighs and offers a hand to her with a small smile that doesn’t quite make the lines around his eyes disappear.  “Obi-Wan’s right, though.  Meditate on it, and see what the Force shows you.  Whatever decision you make, we’ll be here for you, I promise.”  The earnestness in his voice and the acceptance in her grand-Master’s eyes are reassuring, and she nods firmly, her smile a little steadier now.

  
“Okay,” she says, “I will.”  Something tells her she won’t be a Jedi for much longer, but she doesn’t say that out loud; she thinks they know anyway.  They’re a team, after all.


	4. Crying Out For Forever

Padmé has been able to read Anakin like a book for the entirety of their marriage - she doesn’t count it as too many points in her favor, however; Anakin wears his soul on his sleeve, there for anyone to see if they take the time to look.  It’s what makes him so antithetical to the Jedi beliefs, and such a good man.  She loves it about him, even during the storms they’ve weathered.  She sees too much deceit and false images in her Senate life to want any part of that at home.  Oh, she knows he has his secrets, and so does she, but there’s no lies between them.  They speak honestly to one another, and it’s a breath of fresh air.

Thus, when she walks into the living room to see Anakin sitting still on the couch, his flesh hand toying with the buckles of his glove, she knows something is distressing him.  “Ani?” she says as she sits next to him, her hand falling to rest on his wrist, “What’s wrong?”  She doesn’t know what could have him so worked up - she’s kept up secretly with his deployments and missions, and while they all carry a loss of life that is personally horrifying, they have been no worse than most of the rest.  

“I need to talk to you about something, but I’m worried you’ll think less of me for it,” he admits, and she shakes her head as she looks up at him.  
“I would never think less of you, Anakin.  Talk to me, please.”  She worries about him when he gets like this, quiet and volatile.  She only sees it when he’s wrestling with what he wants and what the Jedi want, and it always ends with him growing angry at himself and doing something reckless.  

He sighs, letting Padmé turn his hands over in her own, though he still refuses to meet her eyes.  “I’m leaving the Order, soon.  I haven’t talked to the Council yet, but… Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are leaving too.”  He swallows hard, and his flesh hand trembles in her own. 

Padmé isn’t sure how to react at first.  Her thoughts are racing through the possibilities and the challenges that would come, but the first question that springs to her lips is, “Why?”  It’s a little silly, especially since she knows the challenges he’s faced from his first days in the Order, but she wants to hear it from him.  Anakin has always been best at working through his thoughts when he can talk about them freely.  When he stands abruptly, she lets him go.

“He’s leaving because he promised Duchess Kryze he would-” she can’t quite hide her startled look, but she tries, “They’ve been in love since he was a Padawan, apparently, and he promised he would leave if she asked him.  I’m leaving because… I can’t do this anymore, Padmé.  I can’t lie to myself and everyone else anymore.  I’m-  I’m  _ tired _ .  I can’t be the Jedi they want me to be.  The Jedi I should be.  I’m being pulled in so many different directions and I don’t know what to do anymore.”  He’s been pacing as he speaks, but he stops suddenly, and the slump in his proud shoulders breaks her heart.  “I wanted to wait until the war was over, but I don’t think I can wait that long.  I’m afraid of what will happen if I try.”   

“What do you mean, Anakin?” she asks, feeling a cold, sick sensation spread through her.  His words hadn’t sounded like the exhausted pessimism he tended to get after coming home sometimes.  They sounded like a premonition, the kind he had before they went to Tattooine.  She’s afraid of what it means.  “Talk to me, please.  Maybe I can help.”  

“I don’t  _ know _ ,” he says, and he starts to pace again, “I see so many things, and they change all time - everything is changing.  I have to change with it.”  The admission makes him stop again and he swallows hard, frightened blue eyes meeting Padmé’s.  “If I don’t change, if I don’t  _ stop this _ , everyone is going to die, and it’s going to be my fault.  I’ve seen it, Padmé.  I’m afraid of what I’ll become.”

The pure terror in his voice over what Anakin has seen sends a cold chill down Padmé’s spine.  Her husband is fearless.  He’s faced down Sith lords and assassins, the leaders of the Separatist army, and odds no one should have survived, and he came out of it nearly unscathed.  He has nothing to fear but this, whatever nightmares the Force has shown him.  “Have you talked to Obi-Wan about this?” she asks, her voice soft and reassuring, “He would know what to do.”  

“What if he says it’s just a nightmare?” Anakin asks miserably, with the resigned tone of someone who’s heard that far too many times to expect anything else.  The near-defeat in his voice makes Padmé straighten up, her dark eyes flashing.  

“Anakin, is that why you never told anyone about the nightmares you had about your mother?”  That had been such a close call, and she knew that had they been any later, Shmi might not have survived.  “How long has this been going on?”

He shakes his head, looking conflicted.  “It’s not like that, Padmé-”

“Yes, it is.”  She stands up, going to take Anakin’s hands in hers.  How could anyone dismiss Anakin’s visions as just nightmares?  She’s seen how badly they shake him, how he spends the rest of the day jumpy and distracted.  Those aren’t just nightmares, and she’d believed  _ Obi-Wan _ , of all beings, would be able to see that, even if the rest of the Jedi do not.  “I’m going to take care of this, Ani, alright?”  She reaches up, caressing his cheek.  “Just trust me.”

Anakin swallows hard, his expression slowly relaxing as he sighs, relieved that he no longer carries the burden of his visions alone.  He does trust Padmé, more than he can say.  He trusts Obi-Wan too - he already knows that’s who she’s planning to go to, and he almost pities him.  “Don’t be too hard on him, love,” he says softly, “He didn’t know.”

Padmé just smiles at him.  “I won’t be.”

* * *

“Master Kenobi, it’s so good to see you,” Padmé greets him, inclining her head as Obi-Wan sits across from her, his brows furrowing at her use of his title and surname.  “There’s something I’d like to talk with you about.”

He’s starting to feel distinctly cornered.  “Of course, Padmé, anything.”  His instincts are screaming danger, but he stays right where he is, facing her.

She doesn’t bother with any more formalities; instead, she leans forward and speaks with the grave formality of the Senate.  “Anakin told me something the other day that worries me.  I wanted to ask if you could clarify it for me.  Is it true that the Order is dismissing his visions as only nightmares, when they’ve proved to come true, more than once?”

Well that certainly wasn’t what he was expecting.  Obi-Wan runs a hand over his beard, trying to form a response that might satisfy Padmé’s protective anger.  He has always admired her and her no-nonsense ways, as well as her transparency - though he does wish she would be rather less transparent when it comes to her relationship with Anakin, at least until they are out of the Order officially.  “He is still having the visions, then?”  He hadn’t realized that was the case.  Force, why wouldn’t Anakin just  _ talk _ to him?

Her brows furrows.  “You didn’t know.”  As Obi-Wan shakes his head slowly, she sighs.  “Of course you didn’t.  Let me ask you this: when was the last time Anakin came to you about his visions?”  She pins him with the same look from before, and he leans back in his seat, considering her question.

“He was… thirteen, perhaps.  It was the night before a mission - I told him not to let his apprehension get the best of him.  In truth, I just didn’t want him to be frightened.  The visions affected him badly, and it was better if he simply… ignored them.”  Obi-Wan’s lips tighten at the memory of that mission and what had happened before.  He’d regretted his quick words, and he’d intended to apologize to Anakin, but- “The mission went badly wrong - not in the way he had dreamed of, however.  It was the last time he spoke of them with me, I believed they passed.”  His own had stopped when he was not much older than that, and he’d thought it was the same for Anakin.  Clearly, he had been wrong.  “How long-”

“It’s why we were so close to Geonosis to try to rescue you - we were on Tattooine.  He had a vision about his mother being captured and tortured by raiders.”  Padmé bites her lip, and Obi-Wan thinks she looks her age when she does it.  Too young for the position she’s been placed in.  They’re all too young, and he feels so much older for it.  “They attacked the night we got there.  If we hadn’t been there…”  

“And now?” he prompts, leaning forward once more.  He can feel a stirring in the Force.  They’re coming to another important moment, and he tries not to think about how many of those have involved Anakin’s decision to leave the Order with him.  “What’s happened, Padmé?”

She sighs and doesn’t meet his eyes, all her previous righteous anger gone in moments.  “He told me last night that he’s been having visions about-” she stops and starts again, “He’s been having visions that something horrible happens, and that it’s his fault.  He says it’s why he wants to leave the Order.”  She glances at her hands folded on her lap before looking up at Obi-Wan, her dark eyes wide and worried.  “I can’t help him with this.  I want to, but this isn’t something I can handle alone.  Please, Obi-Wan, you know him better than I ever could.  Talk to him.  Find out how we can stop this - I can’t lose him.  I won’t.”  A bit of her usual determination starts to creep into her tone again, and she seems to gather herself a little more, a brave smile finding its way onto her lips as he nods and takes her hands in his own.

“We’ll help him, I promise.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it's taken so long!


	5. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan and Satine have a conversation.

The soft chime of Obi-Wan’s comm wakes him from where he’s dozed off at his desk, and he shakes off the sleepy haze before he answers.  “Kenobi.”

“Good evening, dear.  Did I wake you?”  Satine’s voice is warm and soft, and he can all but feel the gentle touch of her hand on his cheek that had been their last brush of contact before he boarded the transport from Mandalore to Coruscant.  

He smiles.  “Only a little.”  He’s working himself to exhaustion, trying to tie up every loose end he has before he leaves the Order.  “It’s alright, I prefer speaking with you anyway.”  He gives her a boyish smile that even over a holo doesn’t quite hide the circles under his eyes, and she sighs.

“Ben, don’t overwork yourself.  We’ve waited quite long enough for this, it won’t hurt to wait a little longer if you need it.”  He knows she worries about him, she tells him often enough, but he’s fine.  He only has a short while left, and then he can finally allow himself to rest.  He can endure this for a short time longer.  “I mean it.”

Obi-Wan nods and rubs a hand over his face.  He knows she’s right.  “I’m alright, Satine.  It’s only for a little while.”

 

Satine sighs and curls her fingers into her palm to keep from reaching out to him, as though she could soothe the worry and exhaustion written on his face through the light-years that separate them.  “Only a little while,” she repeats, and her heart aches with his, both of them longing for one another, and impatient for the time when they can finally be together.  It’s somehow more intolerable than the years they spent without contact, to be  _ so close _ and yet have to wait  _ only a little while longer _ .  “I can’t wait.”  Her smile is soft as she whispers it - an expression she rarely wears, but one she can’t help when she speaks with her beloved.  She has a reputation for coldness, but they both know better.  She hides her emotions, nearly as well as he does.  They’re suited to one another in that aspect, it seems.  

“Neither can I,” Obi-Wan returns her smile, and it lifts some of the years from his face, “I think about you constantly, dear one, I miss you more each day.”

“You old romantic,” she teases him, but her expression turns wistful.  “I miss you too, Obi-Wan.  Are they-  Will they really let you go?”  Her brows are drawn as she asks the question that has weighed on her from the moment he said he would leave the Order.  

He hesitates.  “Whether they allow it or not, I am leaving.  The Order… it isn’t what I swore to serve.  We were never meant to be generals or commanders, or to fight a war for the Republic.  We are peacekeepers, or we  _ were _ .  I cannot continue to condone what we have become, and that is precisely what I intend to tell the Council tomorrow.”  It’s high time he found his voice again, and how better to do that than to stand up for what he truly believes in -  _ peace _ .  A sly look breaks over his face suddenly, and she’s on her guard between one breath and the next.  She  _ knows _ that look, far too well, and she knows the kind of trouble it can bring.  “Though I should let you know that it’s likely a mutual friend of ours will be contacting you shortly about how to obtain clan status, and I must ask that you move quickly when you have the chance.  She is asking for friends, of course.”  His gaze sparkles with mischief, and it nearly takes her breath away to see the boy she’d fallen for in those beautiful blue eyes.  

“I’ll be waiting.”  Satine has an inkling of what this might be about - Obi-Wan would never leave his men alone without ensuring that they would be safe; they are his family, as much as he will allow himself to have any family while he is still in the Order.  “I think that particular batch of legislation would go through quite smoothly, if it were to be introduced.”  She would be more than happy to secure the future of the clones, if they agreed to it.  

 

Obi-Wan swallows around the sudden tightness of his throat as he looked at the woman he’d fallen in love with so many years before, who was offering - without question - shelter, at least on a political basis, to millions of beings she had never met, whose very existence is antithetical to her beliefs.  “You are incredible, did you know that, Satine?” he murmurs.

“Flatterer,” she says, and her smile crinkles the corners of her eyes - his fingers ache to reach out and touch those lines, “What am I going to do with you, beloved?”  

Obi-Wan’s smile is just as brilliant and warm as he offers, “Marry me?”  It’s a natural step, but one they haven’t spoken about much since her quiet request for him to stay, nearly a month before.  

Satine doesn’t hesitate.  “Yes, Ben, a thousand times, yes.”  Her voice is soft and heavy with emotion, and he can see the way her blue eyes shine before she brushes the back of her hand over them.  “I want nothing more.  Though,” she says with a shaky laugh, “Are you quite sure you’re prepared to be a duke?”

“For you, dear one, I’ll be anything you ask.”

“I love you, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“And I you.”

They sit in silence for a little while longer, soaking in one another’s presence from light-years away.  For now, it will have to be enough.


	6. Brothers In Arms

“Cody, do you have time to talk?”  Obi-Wan steels himself.  This isn’t the conversation he’d ever expected to have, and he can only hope it goes well.

“Of course, general.  Why don’t we head to one of the meeting rooms?”  Cody’s sharp eyes take him in, and Obi-Wan knows he understands the gravity of the conversation they’re about to share.

The meeting room is empty, and Obi-Wan sits down in a chair, nodding for Cody to do the same.  “Cody… you’re a good man, do you know that?  I don’t believe I tell you often enough, but there is no one save Anakin I would rather have at my side than you.”

Cody tilts his head, silently taking in his words and trying to parse them for what Obi-Wan means.  “General, you’re talking like you’re about to do something reckless,” he says, with a hint of a smile, confusion in his gaze.

“Perhaps I am.”

Cody nods.  “Well then, you’d better tell me what the plan is, so I know how to cover you.”

Obi-Wan sighs.  “I believe it’s time for me to leave the Order.”  

For a moment, Cody goes utterly still.  His eyes dart from Obi-Wan, to the door, to Obi-Wan again.  “Did Rex put you up to this, sir?  This sounds like a prank.”

He shakes his head, running a hand over his beard.  “No, Cody, I’m afraid not.  My path has been leading elsewhere for a long time, and I was trying to ignore it, but I can’t any longer.”

“So you’re leaving us.  Alright.”  Cody is already going stiff and formal, the way he had been when they met.  “I assume you’re handing command over to another general.  Who will I be reporting to?”

“Cody, listen to me.  You won’t be handed over to another general - you’re… Force.  I wouldn’t just hand you to someone else like a- like a blaster.  That isn’t what I’m saying at all.”  Force, he’s mucked this all up.

Cody frowns, his posture going even more tense.  “Then what are you saying, sir?”

“I’m saying that  _ you _ will be leading the 212th.”

If he’d thought Cody couldn’t go more rigid, he was wrong.  His commander - his  _ friend _ \- goes stiff and silent with shock.  “Sir?”

“There will be some changes within the GAR very soon - you cannot tell anyone, but there’s a bill being passed before long that will change the structure, meaning that you and your brothers in the command posts will likely be getting commissions and earning the rank of general, as you should have been able to in the first place.”  He takes a deep breath and continues, his eyes searching Cody’s for any signs that he’s upset with the news.  “Cody… you will make a fine general, and there is no one I trust more to take care of the 21th than you.  You’re an excellent officer, and a good man.  The troopers love you, and they’ll follow you wherever you lead them.  I know this is a shock, but I think-”

“You think?” Cody says with a stunned laugh, “It’s a little more than a shock, general.  I- I don’t know what to say.”

“It won’t happen immediately, there will be a month or two, but I wanted to tell you myself.  I couldn’t let you find out from a briefing, or a memo.”

Cody sighs and nods, steeling himself.  “What about Rex?”

Obi-Wan snorts.  “I suspect he’s finding out as well, though I believe Anakin said they were going to a bar to discuss things.”

Cody laughs, and he relaxes a little as the two of them chuckle together.  “That sounds like General Skywalker.  I hope he brought plenty of credits, Rex is no cheap date.”

That startles a laugh out of Obi-Wan, but Cody laughs with him, and they end up in near-hysteria together, shock fading into acceptance and humor as they chat together, working out the details and explaining everything that will happen over the next months as they transition everything into Cody’s capable hands.  

“You really think I can do this, General?”

“There’s no one else I trust more to take care of it.”  Obi-Wan smiles, and Cody clasps his wrist, an understanding passing between them in a moment - they’re still brothers in arms, no matter what else happens after this.  

Cody grins.  “You know, if the civilian life doesn’t work out for you, you’ll always be welcome with us.”

Obi-Wan grins right back at him.  “I’ll keep that in mind, General.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry that it's taken me so long to update! If anyone is still reading, I have the fic finished with the exception of one chapter, and I'll start posting the chapters once a week! Thank you for sticking with me! <3


	7. All Due Respect

Obi-Wan has known for a long time now that his years with the Jedi were growing few, for one reason or another.  He rarely has the flashes of prescience that plagued his younger years anymore, but he is quite strong in the Unifying Force, and this one thing he recognizes as clearly as he does the signatures of every Jedi in the Temple.  Whether it was Satine’s request ( _ that _ , he would have liked a little foresight for), choosing to leave on his own, or being forced out for one reason or another (nightmares of a burning Temple and the bodies of Jedi in the halls haunt him), he would bet his lightsaber that he would not be there in three years’ time.   He’s taken care over the last months to set the scenes for this.  It would be a surprise, but the hints were there.  Small ones, of course, occasional words that say one thing but would mean quite another in light of his departure.  There are painfully few he has to worry about, and those closest to his heart have already been told.  Yoda has given him knowing looks, because of course he would know what Obi-Wan is thinking as he always has; Mace is too busy running the Order to really see what is happening with individuals;  with the rest of the Council scattered across the galaxy like so many stars, this should be relatively painless.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

“You mean to tell us that you are abandoning the Order in the middle of the worst war the Republic has seen in centuries?” Mace asks, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as he stares Obi-Wan down with the expression that had cowed hundreds of Jedi.  

Obi-Wan doesn’t even flinch at the thunderous expression.  “That’s just it, Masters.  This is the Republic’s war, not ours.  We are  _ peacekeepers _ , not military leaders, not soldiers.  That has never been the Jedi’s role in the galaxy, and there is far too much blood on our hands - both of the Separatists and the men who fight and die on our orders - for me to be comfortable playing a role in it.”

“You understand that the Order fights because of the Sith threat.”  Mace  _ knows _ he knows that.  

“Yes of course, Master Windu, but why do we not focus our efforts on the  _ Sith _ , and not the Separatists?  We are spread far too thin-”

“And apparently you want to spread us even thinner, by leaving-”

“That is not what I’m saying at all.”  Obi-Wan’s voice would sound neutral to anyone but Anakin and Ahsoka, but the lift to his chin speaks  _ volumes _ .  “What I’m saying is that had we concentrated our efforts on the Sith, that would have been one thing, but we did not.  I am not - nor do I think a good many of our number are - comfortable with the way the war has gone, turning us into  _ soldiers _ , fighting not for the  _ galaxy _ but for the Republic.  I cannot, in good conscience, stay silent on this matter.”

“I agree with Obi-Wan,” Anakin finally speaks up, “I’ve been uncomfortable with the way the war is progressing as well, and the turmoil I’ve felt in the Force as a result.  What the Order is doing… it’s not what the Force wants.”  He stands straight and tall, hiding his nerves, and Ahsoka straightens as well, subtly bumping her elbow into his in solidarity, earning a tiny smile.  Force, Obi-Wan is so proud of them both.

Mace rubs his temples.  “And that’s the evidence you have, your idea of what the Force wants, which none of us can feel.”

“Isn’t that what we’re meant to do, Master?  To trust and follow the Force?”

Mace thinks, bitterly, that he walked right into that one, and Skywalker had learned more from his Master than he let on most of the time.  “What I am  _ saying _ , young Skywalker, is that if we are to consider your words - and present them to anyone outside the Order - then we need some kind of evidence that we should not be involved in this war.  You have a responsibility outside this Temple’s walls, and we will have to answer to those authorities as well.”  

“Why do we have a responsibility to them, Masters?” Ahsoka asks, and then tucks herself a little closer to Anakin’s side when the attention of all the Council members comes to rest on her.  She swallows and then continues, “We learned about the history of the Order, and… we weren’t supposed to follow the orders of the Senate.  We were neutral.”

“Until we became involved in the war because of the threat the Sith presented.”

Obi-Wan sighs, fighting the urge to rub his own temples; he’s not sure why Yoda is letting Mace do all the talking, but he gets the feeling he won’t like it when he finds out.  “Yes, Master.  The Sith are the real threat, and the one we should have been going after the whole time.  Not the Separatists.  Furthermore, the idea of becoming a part of the Republic’s army, and from there, as I said, of leading an army of  _ slaves _ -” he wishes he could reach out to Anakin when he sees him flinch out of the corner of his eye, “-into war, it’s unconscionable.  We should have spoken against this long ago, and we did not.”   _ He _ should have spoken against it - it feels like Satine has given him back his voice, and that’s only another reason he’s grateful to her.

“We had no choice.  The clones were-”

“We had  _ every  _ choice, Masters.  Since when have the Jedi upheld such things within the Republic?  If it were the Outer Rim, the Hutts, perhaps I could swallow that idea more easily, but here?”  Obi-Wan thinks of the men under his command, of Cody, and Crys, and Boil; he thinks of the names of those they’ve lost, every one of thousands of names that are hand-written in a private journal, so that they are never forgotten.  He thinks of the memorial carved in Geonosian rock, with yet more names, more men who died before they ever saw the galaxy.  He thinks of men who never had names, culled by scientists who didn’t see them as living beings, only products - has the Order, the Republic, been any better?  “I believed the Order fought for justice and fairness, but we accepted command -  _ ownership _ \- of the clones without protest.  We have done  _ nothing _ to offer them a life outside the war, or to have a choice in whether they fight at all!”

It’s Yoda who speaks up next; he thinks Mace might privately agree with him, as the man leans back in his chair.  “Proud, the clones are, to fight.”

“Perhaps some are, yes, but they are  _ individuals _ .  You can see it as well as I can, I’m sure of it!  They deserve the right to choose their path, just like anyone else in the galaxy.”

“Chooses for everyone, the Force does-” Yoda says, but Obi-Wan cuts him off.

“No, Master, respectfully.”  The silence  _ rings _ in his ears.  “We choose our own paths.  I have chosen mine.  I am formally submitting my status as a conscientious objector to the war, and I am retiring from the Order permanently, pending final arrangements for the men under my command, and finalizing my affairs within the Order.”

The council chambers burst into noise, and Anakin bumps his shoulder gently, reminding him that he isn’t alone.  “So am I.”

“And me too,” Ahsoka adds, straightening at Anakin’s other side.

Ki-Adi-Mundi’s voice is clearest.  “You can’t leave the Order in the middle of a war-”

“I can, Master Mundi, and I am.”  Obi-Wan glances at the door as a Padawan slips inside and goes to Yoda’s seat, handing him a flimsi, the senatorial seal visible on the opposite side.  

The aged Grand Master reads it, then passes it to Mace, who reads it and then sighs heavily, scrubbing a hand over his face.  “You’re  _ dismissed _ , all of you.  We’ll discuss this at a later date.”  

Obi-Wan takes the lead, bowing and walking from the room, Anakin and Ahsoka at his side.

“Master Obi-Wan, what was that?” Ahsoka asks, her curiosity like a flame in the Force.

“Senator Amidala’s timing is impeccable as always,” he says simply, running a hand over his beard to hide a grin.  

Anakin eyes him.  “You and Padmé have been scheming again, haven’t you?”

Obi-Wan hums.  That may have been all Anakin knew of it, but there was much more to the bill, from what Bail had told him.  “As I said.  Her timing is impeccable.  The Order will have plenty to concern themselves with, far more important than the three of us.”  

* * *

The Temple is in an uproar.  The Jedi Order has been removed from the equation of the war entirely, without their consultation, and it’s all anyone is talking about.

Obi-Was has no part of it.  He sits in his quarters, a mug of tea going cold as he meditates.  His outburst to the Council was only the most recent development of his shift in thinking, and he doesn’t quite know how to handle it.  Everything is changing, far more quickly than he’s expected it to, including himself.  He doesn’t mind the changes, in certain ways.  He feels lighter, stronger than he has in years.  He feels like he  _ can _ speak his mind.  It’s so strange, to realize that he’s spent so long staying quiet and keeping his thoughts to himself.  A part of him realizes that the habit was developed when he was young - it was not the place of an Initiate or a Padawan to question things, or even to speak their mind.  He isn’t sure how it was seemingly so easy for his agemates to put that sort of thinking behind them, but he envies them, a little bit.  

Satine encourages it in him, though.  She always has, even when they were teenagers on the run with Qui-Gon.  She’d asked to hear his thoughts and opinions, especially when Qui-Gon wasn’t around.  She’d even stood up to his Master over it, when Qui-Gon said he had much to learn before he spoke up.  Satine had spent plenty of time discussing things with him, listening before telling him that the Order was  _ wrong _ .  He hadn’t been prepared for that thought at fifteen, but now?  He understands that in a way, she was right.  It’s been hard to accept, but he’s coming to terms with it, and with that understanding comes the knowledge that he will never be able to grow or truly follow the will of the Force within the confines of the Order.  No, his place is outside; he’s always known it, he thinks, with the times he left the Order, but now, he can accept it and leave for good.  There is no coming back this time, and instead of unsureness and worry, there’s only peace.  

Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi is no more.  Now, there’s only Obi-Wan Kenobi, a simple man.  

He likes the sound of that.


	8. Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Shit Gets Real.

Anakin doesn’t remember kneeling in front of the Sith Lord, between the unconscious bodies of Masters Windu and Fisto, only hours after he officially left the Order; he doesn’t even remember how he  _ got _ to the Senate building, or why he went, only that he  _ had _ to, that something was  _ in his mind _ , telling him to come.  He’d fought it as hard as he could, but the Dark Side was so strong, collapsing his shields smothering every willful thought as Anakin tried to struggle.  Now, the only path he could see was the one in front of him, to sacrifice everything to save those he loved - only Palpatine’s training was enough-

The door slams open, and Obi-Wan strides in, righteous fury written in his expression, his lightsaber humming in his hand, casting soft blue light to throw back the darkness.

“Anakin is _mine_ ,” Obi-Wan snarls, and he finally, _finally_ throws open the shields he’s kept up for so many years and he _pulls_ , drawing every bit of his connection to the Force around himself.  Anakin almost flinches at the sheer brilliance of his signature as he blazes sun-bright - is this what his Master has been hiding for so long?  He can feel _Attachment-mine-Padawan-brother-son-_ ** _love_** singing through the Force, and his eyes go wide.  Is that what Obi-Wan has always felt toward him?

Sidious laughs, cruel and ugly.  “You think you can take him back?  The boy has already chosen a new Master.  You nearly stole him away from me, but look at him now, after only hours with my touch in his mind.  He has fallen, Master Kenobi, and you have  _ failed _ .”

Obi-Wan looks down at Anakin as he stands between his apprentice and the Sith Lord, a living, fiery shield in the Force.  This close, Anakin can’t even feel the Dark Side or its temptation weighing on him, the Sith’s touch in his mind evaporating.  What had he been  _ thinking _ ?  “Do you choose him?”  

The answer is obvious.  Obi-Wan smiles as he offers Anakin a hand up, and if he’d been blinding before, the moment they stand together, they are an unstoppable wall of  _ Light _ .  The Darkness doesn’t have a chance, and even Sidious’ wiles aren’t enough to save him.  He falls to blue and green blades, and he fades to so much ash, his body decaying in seconds as the Dark Side abandons its most loyal servant.  

“Master, I’m sorry-” Anakin says, but he freezes as Obi-Wan pulls him into a tight hug that feels like nothing so much as the Light Side wrapping around him with a gentle warmth.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Anakin.  Even you could never be a match for the manipulations of a Sith Lord.”  Obi-Wan rests his hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes.  “You held him off long enough for me to find you.  I’m so very proud of you.”

Anakin swallows hard and wraps Obi-Wan in another hug.  They still have a lot to do to prove the truth - though he’s glad that Master Windu and Master Fisto will be able to back them up - but for now, he can believe that everything will be okay.


	9. The War is Over

_ “The war is over, Ani,” Padmé says, and at his stunned look, she smiles, “Come home.”   _

The next few weeks are a whirlwind of politics and arrangements being made for the army.  With the Chancellor dead - a Sith lord as proved by his own security holos and records, hidden though they were - the war falls apart at the seams and a tentative, fragile peace is established.

Finally, though, the dust settles on the new Republic, one without the influence of a Sith Lord, and they’re finally able to relax.  The first thing Padmé does is drag both Anakin and a protesting Obi-Wan to the lake country for an enforced vacation.  She didn’t really have much trouble once Vokara Che got a good look at the pair of them and promptly noted in their charts that they were on rest leave for the next two weeks, no matter what they or anyone else had to say about it.  

The night they arrive, they’re all sitting around the dining room table, and Padmé glances at Anakin.  What they have to say might change the entire course of their friendship with Obi-Wan, and she’s as worried as he is.  Anakin clears his throat and squeezes her hand under the table.  “Obi-Wan, there’s something you should know.  Padmé and I, we’re-”

“Married, I know.”  Obi-Wan runs a hand over his beard to hide his smile as Anakin splutters in shock.

“You  _ knew _ ?  You knew- how long?”  Anakin looks a little betrayed.

He sighs and shakes his head, leaning back as he observes them.  “Geonosis, though I didn’t know about your marriage until more recently, with the Blue Shadow Virus.”  His look turns apologetic as Padmé shivers slightly at the reminder and Anakin’s hand tightens a little on hers.  “I just knew.  You were so desperate to save her, I knew it had to be more than a crush.”

“You could have said something-”

“No, I could not have.  You were very open with your relationship as it was, it was all I could do to make sure you weren’t caught.”  Obi-Wan shakes his head again with a fond smile.  “Anakin, I know subtlety has never been your specialty, but you are very lucky that no one knew aside from me.  And Ahsoka, of course.  Rex as well, probably, he’s hardly unobservant.”

“And the Sith Lord.”  Anakin looks down at his hands as he says it, guilt clear in his voice.  “I  _ told _ him.  I should have realized I could have told you too.  He said I shouldn’t, you wouldn’t understand, but… you did.”

Obi-Wan sighs as Padmé slips her hand in between Anakin’s.  “You trusted someone who went out of his way to gain the trust of a frightened young boy.  It wasn’t your fault, Anakin.  None of us saw this.”

“What I don’t understand,” Anakin says, quiet and considering as he cradles Padmé’s hand between his, and he gives her a soft smile before he turns back, “How did you know where to find me, Obi-Wan?”

Obi-Wan doesn’t answer for a moment, just looks out at the setting sun over the lake.  “That is where I must confess that I have been keeping a secret as well.  I’d been growing suspicious of your relationship with the Chancellor lately, Anakin.  I thought it was only jealousy, but you were always  _ different _ after coming back from meeting him.  It felt like something filthy was clinging to you.  I thought it was my own attachment and jealousy, but when you asked me about Darth Plagueis the week before, I knew something was wrong.  Then… I felt you fall.  I knew what was going on then, and I knew I had to find you.  I was afraid that I was too late.”

“You saved me.  If you hadn’t found us...”  Anakin swallows back bile at the memory of Sidious’ burning eyes, and the bodies on the floor.  “He wanted me to kill them.”

“Anakin,” Padmé says, gentle but firm as durasteel as she pulls him from his memories and back to the present, “You didn’t kill them.”

Obi-Wan shakes his head with a fond look.  “I know you, Anakin.  You would never have harmed them without his influence.  You’re a good man, don’t let him haunt you.  I’m proud of who you’ve become, I truly am.  You resisted the Dark Side, and I couldn’t be more proud.”  He reaches out, and Anakin catches his hand, squeezing lightly.  “I want you to be happy.  You deserve it.”

Anakin smiles at him with the same sunniness of the boy on Tattooine, one hand in Padmé’s, the other on Obi-Wan’s, the sunset outside filling the small room with warmth.  “Are you happy, Obi-Wan?”

“More than ever before,” Obi-Wan says, and he smiles, warm and really,  _ truly _ happy for the first time in far too long.


	10. The Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, the chapter we've all been waiting for!
> 
> (translations at the end)

“Obi-Wan, breathe.”  Anakin grins at him, mischievous and bright and boyish.  “I did this by myself.”

Obi-Wan sighs heavily, rolling his eyes at his former Padawan.  “Yes, as you’ve reminded me multiple times today.”  He straightens his tunic, checking his appearance in the mirror again.  

“Hey, it’s not every day my Master gets married, let me have fun.”  Obi-Wan huffs at that, and Anakin laughs.  “Seriously though, Obi-Wan.  You’re going to be fine.  You love Satine, and she loves you.  You’ve waited for each other for years, and you never stopped loving each other.  That says a lot.”

Obi-Wan pauses, then smiles.  “When did you get so wise, my young Padawan?” he asks, and reaches out to squeeze Anakin’s shoulder.  Even he’s noticed that he reaches out more often now, the guilt and worry that made him withhold the affection he’s wanted to offer his loved ones long gone.  

“When I married someone who tells me when I’m being an ass,” Anakin says with another bright laugh, “Padmé has helped me more than I can tell you, finding out what’s- what’s  _ normal _ , and what’s the stuff I learned to survive back when I was a kid-”  The  _ and in the Order _ goes unspoken, but they both know it’s there.  “I really hope Satine can do the same thing for you.  You deserve that.”  His expression is so full of fondness it makes Obi-Wan’s chest ache; instead of responding, he simply steps forward and wraps his arms around Anakin, holding him tight for a moment.

“Master Obi-Wan!  It’s time, come on!”  Ahsoka pokes her head in.  “You’re going to be late!”  She hurries back out, and Obi-Wan takes a deep breath, steeling his nerves.

“You can do this.”  Anakin claps him on the back with a grin before he heads out to meet Padmé.  

Force, Obi-Wan hopes he’s right.

* * *

The wedding would be simple, Satine had said, only family and friends.  Clan.

That’s why it takes Obi-Wan’s breath away when he walks in and the massive hall is  _ full _ .  He recognizes a few of them as what’s left of the Kryze clan - Korkie, a few of Satine’s cousins, and he even catches a flash of short red hair and blue-and-black beskar’gam.

The rest of the crowd is made up primarily of what must be the entirety of the 212th and 501st, all in freshly polished armor that shines in the sunlight filtering in.  Cody grins at him.  “You thought we wouldn’t be here to marry our general off?”

Obi-Wan blinks away the shine in his eyes, resting a hand on Cody’s shoulder.  “I- Thank you, Cody.”

He’d thought he would have only a handful of people standing with him, but  _ Force _ , his family is bigger than he ever dreamed, and he can’t believe it-

“Ben.”

Obi-Wan turns slowly, and his breath hitches as he sees Satine, standing beside him, a shy smile on her lips he’s never seen before.  She looks as hesitant as he feels, and he steps forward to take her hands gently in his.  There are tears on his cheeks, and more shining in her eyes like stars.  “You look incredible,” he says, when he finally thinks he can speak.  

“So do you,” she whispers, her fingers brushing over his beard, “I think I’m starting to like this.”

“I’m glad,” he says with a wet little laugh, “I look terrible without it.”

“I doubt that very much.”  She leans in to brush her lips to his.  “Are you ready, beloved?”

“I’ve been ready for a very long time.”

Obi-Wan turns to walk to the platform with Satine’s hand still in his, and he hopes she doesn’t feel how much he’s trembling.  All of this feels so surreal - he’s dreamed about it so many times, but he always woke up alone.  Not anymore.

In front of the crowd of their family and friends, they face one another, and Satine smiles at him, more radiant than ever.  Her favorite blue gown and the opals Mandalore is famous for set off her eyes, and he nearly gets lost in them before someone calls, “I thought we were here for a wedding!” and everyone laughs.

Satine shakes her head with a fond grin.  “I suppose they are,” she says, and Obi-Wan chuckles.  

“Satine, aliit Kryze,” he says, his voice as steady as he can make it, “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde. Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum.”  

Satine takes his hands, lacing their fingers together.  “Obi-Wan Kenobi, mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde. Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum.”  

He has to take a second to catch his breath as she speaks, and the moment she finishes, he steps forward to gather her in his arms.  She tugs him in to kiss him until they’re both breathless, to the whoops and cheers of everyone else, only parting to nuzzle her nose to his.  “Force, I love you,” Obi-Wan whispers, and she kisses him again.

“I love you too,” she murmurs against his lips, and the Force blazes with joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde. Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum - we are one together, we are one apart, we share all, we will raise warriors. I love you (Mandalorian wedding vows)


	11. Epilogue

When Obi-Wan and Satine return from their honeymoon, the name given is “Lord Ben Kryze.”  Obi-Wan has no intentions of denying who he is - who he had been - but he understands Satine’s rather possessive claiming of him, and he knows himself well enough to believe that he is no longer Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.  That had been laid aside like his old robes, though his lightsaber remains attached to the back of his belt.  While he still has a strong dislike of politicians, he is still the consummate negotiator he had always been, and Satine takes particular delight in requesting his presence when deliberations aren’t going well.  He would never admit it, but he enjoys the challenge as much as she enjoys setting him on the unsuspecting diplomats.

If he still has nightmares of fiery planets and long years beneath the desert sun, they are easily soothed away by his wife’s sleepy murmurs and the holos of the Naboo lake country Anakin and Ahsoka send near-daily.  His former grand-Padawan has a talent for photography, one her adoptive parents encourage.  Anakin is happier than Obi-Wan can remember seeing him, and why shouldn’t he be?  He is Padme’s pilot, a father, and happily,  _ openly _ married.  On top of it all, Padme is pregnant, and it’s  _ twins _ , Force help the galaxy.  

Twins.  Their signatures are already brilliant stars in the Force, and Anakin is already gleefully calling Obi-Wan “Uncle Ben” when he speaks to them.  Obi-Wan had needed a moment to compose himself the first time, pride and that fierce love he’d never allowed himself to feel before flaring bright and hot in his chest.  He, Anakin, and Padme had spoken late into the night then, discussing the options for the unborn children.  Both of them flatly refused to consider allowing the Order to raise their twins, and while he hadn’t said it aloud, Obi-Wan couldn’t agree more.  After Padme had gone to bed, Anakin had stayed up, explaining the decision in that uniquely passionate way he had, pacing the floor with wild gestures.  Obi-Wan had let him, knowing it was born of worry and a need to get it all off his chest.  Anakin had finally slumped to the couch beside him, his head in his hands.   _ I’m afraid _ , he’d confessed.   _ I know _ , had been the reply,  _ No harm will come to your children while any of us still breathe.   _ And none would.

Padme is voted into the Chancellor’s seat nearly unanimously, and she takes to the office like she was born for it - the youngest Chancellor in history, but easily the most well-received, especially with her husband, the Hero With No Fear, at her side.  There are whispers of manipulation, but they were quickly hushed by the sheer volume of her successes, and the benefits they have for the galaxy’s citizens - especially after the rebuilding begins in full.  The clones are her most vocal supporters as they begin to build their own lives across the galaxy, finding their own places in the universe.

At least for now, there is peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, the end of the fic! Thank you all for sticking with me through this, I couldn't have done it without your encouragements! I can barely believe it's finally finished, and I hope you enjoyed it. There will be more fics set in this verse, so keep an eye out for those!


End file.
